Conventionally, with a press line in which a plurality of press machines is aligned, a conveyance machine is provided to convey works between press machines. The press line manufactures an article of a predetermined shape from a work of a flat plate shape through a plurality of pressing processes by each press machine. To each press machine, a different pressing process is assigned, respectively.
On the other hand, the conveyance machines provided between each press machine conveys a work from a press machine executing an earlier pressing process to a press machine executing a subsequent pressing process for each press machine undergoing raise/lower movement in a predetermined cycle. Therefore, it is necessary to set such that the conveyance movement of the conveyance machine does not interfere with the upper mold of such respective press machines undergoing raise/lower movement.
For example, a method of setting the conveyance movement of such conveyance machines has been shown in Patent Document 1. With this method of setting the conveyance movement, a plurality of reference forms of conveyance movement are prepared in advance. When practically setting the conveyance movement, one is selected from the plurality of reference forms prepared, and the initial position and final position of the conveyance machine is further specified. Since a reference form is selected and only the initial position and final position of the conveyance machine have to be specified according to this setting method, the time for setting of the conveyance movement of the conveyance machine can be shortened.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-255419